"Brother Chu Feng, do you see anything?" Qin Xuan sidled up and asked.
"It's hard to make out—too blurry," Chu Feng replied.
Aoooo— Just then, a piercing cry rang out from beyond the barrier gate.
The sudden sound made quite a few people flinch.
What followed sent an even greater chill down their spines.
The surface of the barrier gate began to churn like a lake whipped into massive waves, and from within it, a colossal bird burst forth.
The giant bird spread its wings to a span of ten thousand meters. Its shape resembled a crane, but its entire body blazed a fierce crimson.
Radiance poured from every inch of it, exuding a formidable aura. The creature's cultivation had reached the pinnacle of the True God realm.
"A pinnacle True God demon beast."
Sensing the bird's power, several of the younger generation from the ancient clans immediately panicked.
Even though they held tokens imbued with power, actually facing such a terrifying existence left them with no confidence whatsoever.
It wasn't that they were cowards.
Keep in mind, this giant bird was on the same level as the Heavenly River Overlords who dominated each domain. How could they not be afraid?
But the Young Master of the Crimson Soul Sect wore an expression of wild elation.
He had noticed that the light wreathing the giant bird was, in fact, a rare and valuable power.
Understanding dawned on him.
"So that's why the tokens are used to collect power?"
A sinister laugh escaped from beneath his hood as he produced a token.
The spot on the token that had been blank now resembled a small window. On the other side lay a vast spatial world—and within that world, there was nothing but surging, roaring flames.
These were no ordinary flames. They possessed power comparable to the pinnacle of the True God realm.
However, because his token was of superior quality and he had personally modified it somewhat, the power it contained was even stronger than the norm.
He was brimming with confidence. The power he had collected was far beyond what anyone else could boast.
A ten-thousand-meter giant bird at the peak of the True God realm? He truly did not see it as a threat.
Gazing at his own handiwork—the masterpiece he had painstakingly crafted—the unease he had felt earlier because of Chu Feng began to dissolve, replaced by arrogance and self-satisfaction.
He couldn't help but sigh: "Chu Feng, you failed to collect any power, so now you can do nothing but watch this young master perform."
"A contemporary waste who dares compete with me? Nothing but a pipe dream."
With that, he rose into the air and streaked toward the barrier gate.
His target was not the barrier gate itself, but the giant bird.
Although the creature was powerful, since appearing it had simply been circling the barrier gate, showing no intention of attacking anyone.
Once he had closed the distance, the Young Master of the Crimson Soul Sect hurled his token outward and formed a series of hand seals.
The token soared into the sky and, far from remaining the palm-sized object it had been, instantly expanded into a hundred-meter colossus. A mass of flame erupted from within the token, engulfing it in a massive fireball.
As the Young Master's hand seals shifted, the fireball transformed into pillars of flame over a thousand meters thick, hurtling toward the giant bird in the void above.
"Someone's making a move!" Qin Xuan exclaimed.
He wasn't the only one. Almost everyone on their side had witnessed the scene.
Though the distance was considerable, the events unfolded high in the sky where visibility was clear—and the commotion was impossible to miss.
"That's the Young Master of the Crimson Soul Sect," Chu Feng said.
Unlike the others, Chu Feng had already locked his gaze onto the distant figure of the Crimson Soul Sect's young master.
"The power wrapped around the giant bird can be seized. His target must be that power," Yuwen Yanri remarked.
While they discussed, the sky had already been set ablaze with crimson fire. The pillars of flame numbered not one but several dozen.
Arranged in orderly formation, they swept across the void.
At first, the giant bird managed to dodge, but before long a pillar of fire struck it squarely, instantly robbing it of its ability to fly. The creature plummeted and crashed to the ground.
Yet the flames showed no mercy. They reversed course from high above and plummeted toward the bird on the earth below.